Awarded $3,000 Open House Scholarship
Josh Jones, 22, of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, graduated from Hope Christian Academy, a private school in St. Paul Park, in 2013. Four years later, in the fall of 2017, Josh will be starting his higher education journey at Dakota County Technical College. He is pursuing an A.A.S. degree in Software Development with plans to graduate in two years.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I graduated from high school,” Josh said. “I thought I would be setting myself up for failure if I enrolled in college without being passionate about the field I had chosen.”
Josh took the time to build life experiences and find out exactly what he wanted to do for a career. He worked in the customer service industry and discovered that engaging directly with people as an integral part of his job helped him transcend a naturally introverted nature and become more outgoing with stronger soft skills.
“I eventually figured out that I could make a living working with computers—and I realized I’ve always had a passion for electronics,” Josh said. “I see software development as a field where I can be creative. I want to be able make things—and that can include mobile apps and developing websites.”
Open House Scholarship
Paying for college can be a sticking point for many would-be students. Luckily, scholarships are a big part of what DCTC and the DCTC Foundation provide to help make the road a little less bumpy. Josh attended the DCTC Open House on April 5 and has already registered for all his classes for fall semester 2017. He also signed up for a scholarship drawing—and won. He was awarded $3,000 to use toward tuition and fees at the college.
“I was still on the fence about enrolling because I wasn’t sure I could afford it,” said Josh, who works as a contract delivery driver for Amazon.com. “Getting the $3,000 Open House Scholarship makes all the difference. That money will go a long way to covering my college expenses.”
Applications Software Developers
Develop and modify computer applications software.
WAGE
Well above the statewide median of $18.88/hour
Minnesota
Median: $43.83/hour
High: $54.32/hourSeven-county Twin Cities metro
Median: $44.29/hour
High: $54.84/hourOUTLOOK
This career is currently in very high demand and is seeing very high growth compared to other careers. Growth rate is 10.3 percent, or well above the statewide average. There will be a need for about 2,970 new Applications Software Developers to meet market demand between 2014–2024. This includes the demand due to replacement (workers leaving the occupation or retiring) as well as growth.
— Minnesota State CAREERwise Education
Josh is looking forward to joining Chess Club when he starts school in the fall. Chess is a game he’s always wanted to learn. When he’s not working, he enjoys spending time with his friends just hanging out or playing online videogames.
“We look for any excuse to get together,” he said.
The two people Josh admires most in the world are his parents. His dad is an automotive mechanic and his mom’s a nurse. When asked to come up with three words to describe himself as a person, Josh chose polite, helpful and humble.
“I get that from my dad,” he said. “He’s the kind of guy who will pull over to help someone in trouble on the road. My mom is also a role model in my life.”
What is your greatest accomplishment so far?
“I became an Eagle Scout at the age of 18. I was big in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts when I was younger. I fought tooth and nail to earn the Eagle Scout award.”
— Josh JonesEagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The designation ‘Eagle Scout’ was founded more than one hundred years ago. Only four percent of Boy Scouts are granted this rank after a lengthy review process. The requirements necessary to achieve this rank take years to fulfill. Since its founding, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men.
— Wikipedia
Josh Jones | 21 Answers
Favorite season: Winter
- Favorite natural feature (e.g., waterfalls, oceans, mountains, etc.): Any forest in the fall
- Favorite sport or physical activity: Football
- Your national bird if you could have one: Bald eagle
- Place you would most like to visit: Japan
- Favorite holiday: Christmas
- Your national mammal if you could have one: Brown bear
- Favorite actor or actress: Terry Crews
Favorite world figure: Elon Musk
- Your personal motto if you had to have one: “Do your best and shoot for the moon. If you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
- Coolest thing in the world: Self-driving cars
- Scariest thing in the world: How fast the Earth is traveling through space (Our solar system, Earth included, whips around the Milky Way Galaxy’s center at roughly 220 kilometers per second, or 490,000 miles per hour. Our galaxy is headed toward the Great Attractor at 1,000 kilometers per second, or about 2.24 million miles per hour. FYI: Located in the Laniakea Supercluster 250 million light-years from Earth, the Great Attractor is a gravitational anomaly with a concentration of mass tens of thousands of times more colossal than the Milky Way. So there.)
- Favorite all-time TV show: Scrubs
- Favorite all-time movie: The Matrix
- One thing you most want to accomplish in life: Make something that changes people’s lives for the better
- Most precious material possession: Drawer filled with mementos from lost loved ones and old friends
First thing you would buy if you won the $1.5 billion Powerball: Good lawyer
- Dream occupation: Videogame designer
- Person you would most like to meet: George Washington
- Skill you would most like to learn and master: Cooking
- Humankind’s greatest challenge: Vanishing resources
To learn more about enrolling at Dakota County Technical College, contact:
Admissions
651-423-8000
Room 2–110
To learn more about scholarships and the DCTC Foundation, contact:
Michelle Boe
DCTC Foundation Executive Director
651-423-8236
Amy Eppen
DCTC Foundation Assistant Director
651-423-8265